


One Line

by Alondere



Series: From My Requests! [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Sports, Black Brothers Relationship, Emo Sad Bois Remus and Sirius, Emotional Baggage, Famous Sirius Black, Fluff, M/M, Manager Lily Evans Potter, Orion Black’s A+ Parenting, PA Remus Lupin, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Relationship(s), Past Remus Lupin/Original Male Character, Rated For Violence, They have each other and their friendos, Walburga Black’s A+ Parenting, famous James Potter, its okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29275224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alondere/pseuds/Alondere
Summary: Sirius is a famous soccer/football player, barely twenty three, with his best friend, James Potter.  Remus is James’ (unofficial) wife’s, Lily’s, new PA, a favor for a friend after a life shattering break up that won’t leave him alone.  Sirius is interested, immediately, and he wants to know more.  Lily told him to keep out, which Remus is so thankful for, even if he didn’t know if he wanted Sirius to back off.  Between his friendship with Sirius and his ex’s constant... attacks, Remus is barely navigating his way around his new job.(I have no idea where my readers are located, so you'll see me use words like soccer in the descriptions, just to not confuse some Americans, I don't know how widely known it is that in European countries, football = soccer)
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin/Original Male Character(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: From My Requests! [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944721
Comments: 22
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> THIS SHALL BE UPDATED EVERY OTHER SUNDAY. Same drill as ‘What He Wants’. If I miss a date, I’ll try to get it on the next Sunday, if not, then the next. It should be updated within a month of its last update.

Remus walked off of the bus with Lily, his eyes wandering around the crowd nervously.

“Re, I fired him, I promise. He hasn’t come around since then, like two weeks ago.”

Remus looked at Lily, into her earnest green eyes and nodded jerkily.

“Did I tell you thank you? I-I’m so grateful for this, for you.”

Lily touched his arm. “Of course, anything to get you back on your feet again. And besides,” she stretched, “Who else knows how I take my tea and actually makes it perfectly.”

Remus gave her a small smile, “Only the one who made you the life-changing cup.”

Lily laughed and started walking down the street, Remus following. “Okay, so first orders of business. You’ll get us our coffee and we’ll pretend that we’re just hanging out as usual. You’ll be starting with getting me papers, following me around, getting used to the scene. Then, we’ll go to more bigger things, phone calls and emails. Got it?”

Remus nodded, admiring how easily Lily could switch from home to workplace. They entered the building. She was the perfect manager, a perfect face for James and Sirius Black’s brand. “Yeah, coffee, papers, shadowing you.”

Lily nodded, swiping her keycard to get out of the reception area. “Okay, perfect. James and Sirius will be here in ten minutes. It’s an easy day today, I made sure. We get to watch them play, see what we can promote, what teams they would work on. They both want to be on the same team, so that’d be ideal. I think they want Sirius in a Pespi commercial.”

Remus raised his eyebrows as they entered the lift. Lily pressed the fifty-sixth floor. “I have to meet Sirius Black,” he asked in a strangled voice.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes. I know, big moment, but stay focused. He comes to our house every Sunday for dinner, Remus! I have no idea how you keep missing him! He’s been dying to meet you anyway. He’s a giant teddy bear, he’ll probably greet you with a hug. He swings me around in his arms.”

Remus closed his eyes and sighed. He was grateful for this job, he loved Lily. She moved in with James just to give him her apartment. They stepped off the lift.

“I’m happy, I want to meet him.”

Lily studied Remus closely, while unlocking her office. They stepped into the large and luxurious office. “I can send you away,” she offered.

“No, no. It’s fine, I’ll be fine, Lily. I’ll have to meet him eventually.”

Lily nodded. She set her purse down and pulled her hair back. “Just out of curiosity, why don’t you want to meet him?”

Remus averted his gaze. “I-I’ve had the biggest crush on him for a while,” he muttered, “It was a big... point in arguments between... us. Admitting one of his coworkers was fit in the beginning... it’s why I didn’t stick around. He’d... y’know— that— whenever he knew that Black had been near me, even made up things. Don’t get me started on the things he’d say about James, you, _and_ Black.”

Lily nodded, looking down. “One, don’t refer to him yelling at you as arguments. That’s what it was, him yelling at you, you and him are not ‘us’ anymore, so stop that. And, I guess that makes sense. But, it’s fine, now. You’ll love Sirius, I swear, you can even... maybe date him. The restraining order should come through any day now, I’ll help you get a literal vault door on your apartment,” Remus opened his mouth to correct Lily, “ _your_ apartment, you’re just borrowing the money. You wouldn’t let me turn it away. You’ll be safe.”

Remus closed his eyes and sighed, overwhelmed by how kind Lily was. “I love you, so much.”

Lily smiled. “I love you, too.”

Remus smiled and turned to leave the office. “Get a biscuit!”

Remus waved and got a couple dollars from his pocket, going to the coffee machine for his coffee and then making Lily her tea. Two sugars, a splash of cream, a teeny bit of honey. He walked over the the vending machine, getting out his money. Lily liked Shrewsbury Cakes.

“Oof!”

Remus spilled the drinks and looked over at who ran into him. “Oh, I’m so sorry,  
I didn’t know I was in your way!”

Remus held out his hand and turned to none other than Sirius Black.

His eyes went wide and he froze. Sirius noticed.

“Hi!”

Remus put his hand down and ran the other way, in a panic. He ran back to Lily’s office.

He distantly heard him call out, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Remus got back to Lily’s office and slammed the door shut. James was sitting on Lily’s desk and she was typing out a document.

“Remus! What’s wrong?”

Remus closed his eyes and covered his mouth. “Fuck. Fuck, I just ran away from Sirius Black after he ran into me. I spilled our drinks. On him.”

Lily covered her mouth, hiding a smile. James didn’t even care, he just laughed.

“It’s not funny!”

Lily leaned her head on her head, still covering her mouth. “N-no. Of course not. It’s not at all funny.”

Remus dropped into a chair and covered his face with his hands. “I didn’t mean to, I panicked, forgot... things.”

Lily nodded sympathetically. “I know, sweetie. It’s okay, he’ll understand.”

Remus put his face on his knees and heard the door open again. “Hey, Lils, here’s your tea, your assistant’s coffee. The strangest thing... ah.”

Remus groaned and hunched over more. Sirius exchanged a look with Lily, who shrugged with her mouth and went back to her laptop.

“You can’t hide forever, Remus,” she told him.

There was the smallest “watch me” from the Remus pretzel.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. “Erm. Do you want your coffee?”

Remus slowly lifted up his head. “Yeah. Thank you.”

He accepted the coffee and gave a small smile to Sirius, who smiled brightly back. “No problem! I’m guessing you’re the reason Lily told me not to get it for her?”

Remus nodded. He could feel the beginning of a small fit starting again. “I’ll go get the biscuits.”

Sirius perked up a little. “I’ll go with you!”

Remus shook his head. “No, no. It’s okay. I can get it.”

Sirius seemed to droop a little as Remus left. He felt a little bad, but he needed to leave the office.

When Remus was gone, Sirius turned to Lily. “What was that?”

Lily glanced at the door. “It’s... personal. Not something to talk about, don’t be offended, or do that thing where someone doesn’t like you and you _have_ to make them like you. I promise he actually already likes you. He’ll warm up to you, just... don’t force it. He’s already shy as it is.”

Sirius leaned back in his chair. “Right. Of course. I’ll just... be normal. He’s fit, though, can you tell him that for me?”

Lily snorted as Remus walked back in. “Right.”

Sirius leaned back in his chair, Remus went to the couch on the other side of the room.

He noticed that Remus’ sweater was still wet. “Hey, I’ll get that.”

Remus’ head jerked up and stared at Sirius, wide-eyed. “G-get what?”

Sirius grabbed a washcloth and a water bottle from Lily’s desk and sat by Remus. “Can I touch you?”

“Wh-why?”

He wet the washcloth and pointed at Remus’ sweater. He looked down and back up. “Oh! Yeah, I-I guess.”

Lily face palmed across the room and said, “For God’s sake Sirius, I just told you not to do that! Remus, do you want him cleaning your sweater? It’s fine if you say no, I’ll fire Sirius if he gets all offended.”

Remus looked at Lily and back at Sirius. “Er, can I do it myself?”

Lily ran a hand through her hair. “Give up the washcloth, Black.”

Sirius rolled his eyes at Lily and gave Remus the washcloth, smiling at him. Remus started working on his sweatshirt.

Sirius stood up. “I’m going to get myself a Pespi. ‘Cause of the whole advertising thing.”

Lily nodded and waved Sirius away, calling after him, “We’re leaving in less than fifteen minutes!”

Remus watched Sirius leave the office and turned to the other two. “Did I offend him?”

Lily drank some of her tea and glanced over at him. “No, I told him before you came back not to be offended, so if he were offended, it’s not your fault.”

Remus nodded and stared at his hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he told them.

Lily looked up at him. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s been barely two weeks and James is the only other person who knows. Unless you want us to tell Sirius, which you’re not ready for, he’s going to have to live with it.”

Remus frowned. “I mean, if it would help, I don’t see why we can’t—“

“ _No_. Not until you’re over it.”

Remus shrugged and watched Sirius come back in. “There was no line at the machine.”

Remus took out his phone and started playing Floopy Birb. Sirius sat by him again. Lily looked up. “Remus, can you get me these papers? It’s the printer down the hall, just some contracts.”

Remus stood up and pocketed his phone. James stood too, saying, “I’ll show him!”

Remus followed James from the office and down the hall. “Lily usually uses this printer, so you won’t have to go much farther than here.”

Remus nodded. “Thanks, for that. That actually helps a lot, I wouldn’t want to want to have to navigate my way though this building. It’s huge.”

James laughed. “It is, I love skyscrapers.”

Remus snorted. “Of course you do.”

Remus picked up the papers, checked the names, and went back to Lily’s office with James. “We got the papers and we didn’t die!”

Lily got up and took the papers from Remus’ outstretched hand, “Very good, full points!”

Remus smiled and sat back on the couch, a lot more at ease. “It turned out to be easy!”

Lily laughed. “I’m so glad you were able to experience the epic highs and lows of getting some papers.”

Remus smiled and leaned back. He felt a buzz in his pocket and looked at his phone. He got up. “Lils, it’s a text from an unknown number.”

She held out her hand and picked up the phone. “I’ll check it, first. It’s probably spam or...”

She looked down at the phone and back up at Remus. “What’s wrong?”

She pocketed his phone and clapped her hands. “Let’s go to the field! I need to see you two play, update your ad campaign.”

Remus frowned and turned to Lily. “Is it—”

“Field, now.”

Remus closed his eyes, knowing what it was. He walked with Lily out of the office and looked around nervously again. They got in the backseat of the car, Lily told the driver where to go before leaning back. “I’ll explain on the way. We’ll take separate cars, so that Sirius doesn’t hear.”

Remus shifted uncomfortably. “You need to change your number again. Do you know what he could have used?”

Remus thought about it. “White pages online, or he could be hacking into my account online, my Gryllidae account. I’d have to change everything, even my phone.”

Lily sighed and closed her eyes. “You don’t have the money for it.”

Remus shook his head. “He has to know my location, too. It’s okay, I’ll just block him.”

Lily looked down at the phone again. “No, here’s what’ll happen. I’ll give you your paycheck early, at the end of the day. We’ll change the date you get paid to Monday, and you’ll get a new phone with me tomorrow I need to update my phone. You would have had to change phones, anyway, with this job. I would have paid for it, because it’s sort of a necessity for this job. However, since you need a personal phone, too, you can come with me.”

Remus nodded as they got in the car. “We have a person at the desk and a keycard required. I gave her his picture, so she knows not to let him through and to call security. In public, act as if you don’t work together with Sirius.”

Remus nodded again and got out his phone. “What do we do with this?”

Lily shrugged. “You’re the one who has like seven different degrees. What do you do when someone is tracking your phone?”

Remus looked at phone. “Usually, you take the SIM card out in an APhone. And smash it, which we can’t do. I want to exchange this one, change the SIM card, see if I can get it cheaper. I don’t know if that’ll work, though.”

Lily took out the SIM card and smashed it with her heel. “I’ll pay the extra.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll cover it, you’ve already done so much.”

Lily put her hand up. “I just murdered your SIM card. I’ll pay for it.”

Remus buried his face in his hands. “I’ll pay for it, Lily. Frick-frack off.”

Lily covered her mouth and giggled. “Frick-frack?”

Remus smiled. “Yeah, do you like it?”

Lily lowered her hands and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Very nice, I’ll put on my best lingerie and ask James to frick-frack.”

Remus nodded, pointing at Lily. “He’ll jump right into bed with you.”

Remus sighed and leaned back. “What happened?”

“He texted you your coordinates, then said he was coming over to pick you up later. You can stay over tonight if you want. Sirius will be there, too.”

Remus covered his mouth and closed his eyes. “That would be nice, thank you,” he said in a strangled voice.

The rest of the car ride was silent, Lily sending texts and letting Remus think.

The car stopped and Lily put on some sunglasses. “You know, being James’ and Sirius’ face is very hard. Having to wear a disguise wherever I go.”

Remus snorted. “Sure, it has nothing to do with your side careers. Miss model slash actress, engaged to one of the biggest football players on the planet.”

Lily hit his arms as she put on a face mask, tossing one to him. “Ignore how stupid we look with these masks on, we can’t be recognized.”

Remus put on the mask and the proffered sunglasses. “Ugh, imagine everyone having to wear these all the time.”

He turned to the fourth wall with Lily, who said, “Yeah, _imagine_ , but imagine if it were for health reasons and refusing to wear one.”

Remus snorted. “Imagine. But, at least we wear them so we don’t die if we’re recognized.”

“Yeah, we wear them so we don’t die.”

They turned back to each other. “Let’s go. You could model, too, you know.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Right, sure, _me_.”

Lily shrugged. “I can hook you up with mine and Sirius’ agent. James only does sports, but Sirius loves the ego boost.”

Remus bit his cheek. That sounded like the man he’d heard about from his ex. That sounded like his ex, now that he thought about it.

“He’s nice, though?”

Lily smiled at him, though Remus couldn’t see, he could tell. “Literally a giant puppy, he’s adorable.”

Remus nodded, relaxing a bit. “That’s nice.”

Lily patted his hand and opened the car door. James and Sirius were waiting outside, James offered his hand to Lily, and Sirius to Remus.

Remus took his hand and jumped a little. There was almost a zing between their hands, and he helped him up. “Thanks.”

Sirius smiled at him. “Of course. Is everything okay?”

Remus smiled back, though he couldn’t see. “Yeah, it will be.”

Sirius dropped his hand and so did Remus. “That’s very good. Let’s go.”

They followed James and Lily to the field.

“Why does Lily wear these and you don’t?”

Sirius pulled his hair up and gave Remus a sideways look. “I’m fine with being recognized. Nothing bad happens with me, more than some psychotic fans who I can take care of with no problem. Lily, is a girl, and has a few stalkers. Big, scary men. We both know that Lily can flip them over her shoulder if she needs to, and even if she couldn’t, she has James. But, it’s tedious, so she wears a mask.”

Remus nodded. “I guess that makes sense. She doesn’t take any rubbish, she wouldn’t want to deal with it.”

Sirius nodded and pat Remus’ head. “So, why are you wearing one of those?”

Remus bit his lip. Lily _did_ offer to tell Sirius for him. “Um, symbol of solidarity for Lily and her masks. If _two_ people have on a mask, no one will say a thing.”

Sirius smirked. “Ah, right.”

Sirius knew it was bollocks, but didn’t say anything. Lily was walking back towards them.

“Remus, get in the car! Sirius, go with him, lock the doors!”

Remus didn’t even question it, he ran the other way and heard Sirius follow him. They got to the car and Remus got on the far side, Sirius locked the doors. The driver looked back at them and Remus shook his head.

“What’s wrong?” Sirius asked.

Remus closed his eyes and put his hand over his chest. “I’m going to need Lily to explain it to you, I can’t.”

Sirius nodded and leaned back. Remus covered his face. “I swear to God, he waited for this,” he muttered.

Sirius gave him a strange look but didn’t question him. A call came to Sirius’ phone.

“Hello? Hey Lily, yeah he’s here with me.”

Remus bit his lip, and watched Sirius hand his phone to him. “Hey.”

“ _Hey. He’s here, what happened was he looked up Sirius and James’ and my schedule, knowing that you were taking his job, and waited. We’re coming back to the car, we’re all riding in one car, the other driver already left. We’re going to another field, don’t freak out. The doors are locked, so if you see him, just turn your head away._ ”

“Right, right. Is he still in there with you?”

“ _Erm, no. He left when I started talking on the phone. Just, stay close to Sirius. He’ll be fine, he’ll protect you._ ”

Remus nodded and handed the phone back to Sirius. “Hey. Uh-huh. Yeah. Mhm. Okay, got it. Bye.”

Sirius hung up and turned to Remus. “You okay?”

Remus shrugged, looking out the window, over him. Someone was walking towards the car. He practically threw himself away from the window and buried his face in the seat.

He wanted to run. Sirius looked at him and got closer. “Whose that?”

Remus closed his eyes. “Someone bad. Someone very, very bad.”

Sirius nodded and turned his face to the window. “It’s okay. It’s fine, you’re fine. I’m right here.”

Remus squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears escape, and gasped. Suddenly, there was a banging on the window.

Remus raised his eyes, which was a huge mistake. He pulled back, towards the other window, and shouted. Sirius glanced behind him and looked back to Remus, who was groping the door handle.

“No! Hey, hey! It’s just us in here, look at me.”

Remus’ eyes went to the window. “No, no, me. Look at _me_.”

Remus’ eyes found Sirius’. They were slate gray, dark, framed by long and thick lashes. They were beautiful.

“He wants you to do that, okay? Stop panicking about him trying to come in, he _can’t_.”

Remus nodded. “He wants me to do that,” he repeated faintly, automatically.

“Yes. You’re fine, you’re safe here.”

Remus blinked. “Right, I’m safe.”

Sirius nodded and patted Remus’ head, petting his hair and rubbing his scalp. It calmed him. Remus heard the door open and jumped. It was James and Lily.

“He’s in his car, come on.”

Remus moved into Lily’s arms and hugged her. Lily wrapped her arms around him and rubbed his head.

“He’s not coming back, okay? The restraining order should go through today or tomorrow.”

Remus nodded. “Right. Right, I’m overreacting.”

Lily shook her head. “No, you’re not. I’m surprised you can even leave the house two weeks later, you’re fine.”

Remus closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so much trouble.”

“We knew it’d be hard when I hired you, I wanted to help you. If you took another job, they wouldn’t have been looking for him, we both knew he could find you. This is fine. You’re perfect, you knew he’d obsess over you like that, so did I, that’s why I went ahead of you.”

Remus nodded and picked himself up. “I don’t deserve you, no one does. Break up with James and get a cat.”

Remus felt a light smack on his thigh from James and laughed. “Mm, I’ll have to pass.”

Remus shook his head and said, “Big mistake, Lily. Go live, be happy, with cats.”

Lily laughed and shook her head. “I have to giant _dogs_.”

Remus shook his head. “No, cats are better.”

Sirius scoffed, Remus turned his head slowly towards him and sized him up. “Oh, have something to say, Black?”

Sirius leaned forward and smirked. “Yes. Dogs are better, because they are loyal and adorable.”

Remus leaned forward, so he was just as close to Sirius. “Cats are better, they don’t need to be potty trained, so they don’t excrete all over your stuff, and their purs help with happiness, serotonin. And they’re smart.”

“You get to run with your dog, they greet you when you get home.”

“Cats greet you too, if you don’t abuse them, and you don’t have to walk them. And, you get to cuddle with them.”

“You can cuddle with dogs, too, and they sleep in your bed.”

“Cats sleep in your bed, too, they aren’t too heavy to move around with. Plus, they aren’t loud.”

“Dogs give you kisses that don’t feel like sandpaper.”

“Cats are careful with their tongues when they kiss you and they nudge you with their heads as hugs.”

Lily came between them and pushed them away from each other. “Okay! Both are great, but they can’t compare with pandas, let’s just leave it at that! Okay? When you two are married and old together, you can keep your dogs and your cats.”

At the same time that Remus shouted, “Lily!” Sirius said, “My dogs with tear his cats apart!”

Remus hit Sirius’ shoulder and leaned into Lily.

Sirius laughed as the vehicle stopped. Remus looked out the window and perked up.

They all got out and stretched. Lily waved her hand and led them into the fields.

When Remus and Lily were seated, James got out a football. He tossed it to Sirius, who started kicking it around. He blew a kiss to Remus and kicked it to James again.

Remus rolled his eyes and leaned back. “Thanks, for that Lily.”

“Of course,” she replied, still watching them, “We need to keep you safe.”

Remus rolled his eyes at her focus on the game, but watched them.

“Is that what they wear to practice?”

They were wearing sweats, no equipment. “They switch sometimes, it’s just to be comfortable.”

Remus nodded and watched them play. Sirius turned back to them and shouted, “Lily! What about this for the commercial!?”

They watched Sirius do a weird trick that Remus couldn’t keep up with, the ball went from his foot to his knee, then his heel, his other foot, then his two knees before Remus lost track. He heard Lily scoff and shout, “Stop showing off for the pretty boy! You do that all the time, stop making sure he’s watching, practice as usual!” She hollered.

Remus laughed and leaned forward again. Lily gave him a clipboard and said, “Pretend to look down at that whenever he looks over. He’ll try to show off more.”

Remus snorted and turned to a blank piece of paper. “Can I draw?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Remus looked up at them playing through his fringe and looked back down whenever Sirius looked at them.

Remus doodle a bunch of cocks on the blank paper, occasionally actually drawing something nice. He drew Lily’s hair, then Sirius’ eyes, then James’ hair. He drew Lily’s eyes too and tried to draw Sirius’ hands.

Remus looked up to the smell of onions, then pinched his nose. “Fuck, take a shower!”

Remus jumped away from Sirius as he tried to pat his head. “Don’t touch me until you don’t stink.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and waved James over with him to the changing rooms. 

“Lily, how did you get an entire arena for them.”

Lily rolled her eyes and looked at Remus. “I know you don’t like sports because _‘ew, I’m gay, Lily’_ , but you’re in the presence of the two best football players in the country. I could get them an entire country in ten minutes if I said they needed it for practice.”

Remus shrugged. “They seem nice.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because they are. And one of them is at least a little into you!”

Remus flinched. “ _What?_ ”

Lily nodded. “Yes. Sirius thinks you’re fit and he won’t stop trying to touch your hair. It’s okay, though. I’ll tell him to back off.”

Remus nodded and smiled at Lily. “I can’t thank you enough for this. Just... thank you.”

Lily smiled and pat his hand. “Literally anything to keep you happy. You’re my best friend.”

Remus smiled back at Lily. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Oh look, they’re coming back!”

Remus turned back to them and almost choked on his own spit.

Lily heard that and laughed. Sirius’ hair was pulled back in a messy bun, but there were a few strands of hair loose from the bun, they were all soaked. He was still wet.

“Oh fuck.”

Lily rolled her eyes and pat his back. “Yes, Sirius is just as fit as you, now don’t drool.”

Remus rolled his eyes and tore his paper out of Lily’s clipboard.

“Hi!”

Remus looked up. “Hey.”

Remus tried to tuck the paper out of sight, but Sirius saw it. “Hey, can I see that?”

Remus shrugged and tried to hide the provocative drawings. However, Sirius grabbed it when he saw Remus wouldn’t show him.

“Ooh, we have an artist in our mist! Hey, this looks kind of like mine! Have you been peeking at me in the showers,” he teased.

Remus made a grab for the paper and almost fell over the stands. “That small one looks like James’!”

Remus snorted and sat back strategically in his chair. Sirius saw that he wasn’t chasing him and came back over. “So, what is up with your obsession with detailed drawings of the male anatomy?”

Remus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “I wanted Lily to see what she could have.”

Sirius laughed and leaned over the stands. “Very smart, but you ripped it off her clipboard.”

Remus made another grab for the paper, but Sirius held it out of reach, holding up one finger.

Remus shrugged and said, “I drew his hair on the back.”

Sirius turned the paper over and looked at the drawings on the back. “Oh, these are very nice.”

“Thanks.”

Sirius was looking at the drawing of his eyes now. “Can I keep this?”

Remus shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Sirius pocketed the paper and leaned over the stands again. “So, are we leaving.”

Lily looked up from her phone. “Yeah, wait in the car, lock the doors, I need to take this call.”

Remus nodded and jerked his head towards the car. He jumped over the stands and led Sirius out of the arena.

“So, how long have you been drawing?”

Remus shrugged and kicked a stone. “I wasn’t, and still am not, the most social in upper school or any school. I usually was to be found reading a book or drawing a picture. Lily was my only friend, my best friend, but she also had other friends, one who bullied both of us, and boyfriends, so I got a lot of practice. It was drawing, reading, and studying for me, for my entire school career.”

Sirius patted his head. “I wish I knew you back then, I would have loved to be friends with you. It would have been a nice break.”

Remus snorted as they got in the car. “Yeah, right.”

Sirius turned to Remus, looking at him earnestly. “Really! I could have come over and chilled at your house.”

“Oh, no. You wouldn’t have wanted _that_ , we’d have to go to your house.”

“Oh, _no_. We’d have to hang out somewhere in between.”

Remus smiled. “Yeah, probably. There was a nice little park by my house we could have hung out at.”

Sirius nodded. “That would have worked. I hate private schools. James was my only friend, and he went to the public school down the road.”

Remus leaned back and put his feet up on the seat across from him. “That would be where you would have found us. You should have visited.”

Sirius leaned back, too. “Yeah, I should have.”

Remus leaned on the window, away from Sirius. Lily and James got in the car. “Um, Remus. I need to talk to you.”

Remus looked at Lily and got out of the car. They walked a small distance away, where Lily turned and looked at Remus. “The restraining order, um. It didn’t go through,” she told him gently.

Remus looked down at Lily. “What? Wh-what?”

Lily grabbed his arm to steady him. “Hey, hey! We’ll make a fake one, so he thinks he’ll get arrested! The people said that you can defend yourself, that there’s no need for the restraining order.”

Remus took a step back and almost fell backwards. “I-I was in the hospital, I- why would it be unnecessary?”

“Shh, shh. We’ll figure it out. It was about you... also being a man. The court was run by a piece of shit.”

Remus squeezed his eyes shut and covered his mouth with his hands. He was starting to have a panic attack. He could find him and do what he wanted, now. There was nothing between them.

Distantly, he heard Lily call, “James!”

He heard running footsteps and felt someone try to grab his arm and he almost screamed, “Don’t touch me!”

The hand left his arm and he dropped to the ground. Remus tried to look up to see James and Lily talking.

“The restraining order against Brian—”

“Don’t say his name!”

He heard Lily sigh and tell James, “The restraining order didn’t go through. Can he stay with us?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. We own a mansion, we have the room, he can take all of his friends with him. What about your old apartment?”

“He won’t go back for a while, we’ll all secure it, when he’s back to himself.”

He felt a smaller, softer hand on his back. “Come on, let’s go.”

Remus took Lily’s arm and got up, barely seeing where he was going.

How they got in the car, he didn’t know.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus sat up in his room in James and Lily’s house. He had just had a terrible nightmare, he could still feel the marks from it.

He padded over to Lily and James’ room, peeking in. Lily’s back was uncovered and bare. He couldn’t wake her.

He stepped out. He went down to the kitchen and got out a cup. He filled it with water, his hands still shaking, and checked the time on the microwave.

He may as well start the day, it was five. He got to work making himself some coffee. He heard footsteps come in the kitchen behind him and turned around.

It was Sirius. “Hey.”

Remus stepped closer to the counter. “H-hi.”

Brian would hate this. He was alone with Sirius Black. Brian would be coming any moment to pick him up. Why was Sirius Black so close to him?

“Hey! Hey, what’s wrong?”

Remus was on the floor, how did he get here? Was he hit? Remus felt at his face and abdomen, trying to find the pain.

_”I’m only doing this because I care, if I don’t keep you in line, who will?”_

_“You’re nothing without me, you’re lucky I love you. The Potters have been avoiding you for a reason.”_

_“I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM!”_

Remus covered his head with his arms, he was going to be hurt, he didn’t mean to.

Sirius kneeled before him and sat him up. He recognized this, he didn’t know this was what it looked like from the outside.

He didn’t touch Remus again. He let him get through it, let his eyes focus again.

“Are you okay?”

Remus shook his head. Sirius put his hand on his head and watched him relax. “Where’d you go?”

Remus looked confused for a moment, but Sirius saw his face light up with understanding.

“Doesn’t matter,” he muttered.

Sirius held his arms open and Remus slowly moved into them. “Do you need anything? What triggered that? Was it me?”

Remus shook his head, only lying a little. “I had a nightmare before that. I’m sorry you had to see it.”

Sirius ran a hand through Remus’ hair, he liked that before. “I’ve had my fair share of episodes, I understand.”

Remus sighed. He picked himself up and drank some of his water. “Still doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. You shouldn’t have to witness it, especially if you’ve had them before,” he muttered, “You may get triggered.”

Sirius stood up and started the coffee maker. “I’m in therapy, I’m on meds. We’re hoping to get me off of them, soon, but I’m definitely not going to go through that again. It’s okay.”

Remus sighed and drank his water. “That’s good. I’m not even allowed to have a restraining order, let alone therapy. Not _traumatic_ enough.”

Sirius put his hand on Remus’ shoulder, making him jump. “Is that what that was? After practice, and before?”

Remus nodded, but didn’t say a word. “I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s okay.”

Sirius gave Remus a quick pat on the back and told him, “If you need to talk, I’m here, though.”

Remus nodded, only being polite. He wouldn’t talk to Sirius about anything, he knew. No matter how good his intentions were. Only Lily.

“Thanks, that... means a lot.”

Sirius smiled at Remus, though it was a little forced. He seemed to have read Remus’ mind.

“Do you like watching sports?”

Remus smiled a bit to himself and shook his head. “I like running, but, sorry, football never interested me.”

Sirius leaned on the counter comfortably and shrugged. “I understand, lemme guess, if you were forced to games, you brought a book?”

Remus laughed. “Yeah, only Lily could get me to one, though.”

Sirius smiled, his white teeth flashing in the morning light and his gray eyes crinkling. “When was that?”

“When she finally gave James a chance, she went to one of his games, but Snape would be there, so I was brought along.”

Sirius nodded. “I think I was at that game, it was when she ran onto the field when they won and kissed James?”

Remus smiled at the memory, remembering how Lily beamed. “Yeah,” his smile faded as he remembered _him_ at Remus’ side right when Lily left his.

“Why didn’t I see you?”

Remus shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “Didn’t stick around for the after-party,” he mumbled.

Sirius stared at Remus for a long second and walked towards him.

“You want some coffee? I don’t know about you, but coffee calms my nerves usually.”

Remus nodded. “That would be... yes thank you.”

Sirius nodded and patted his head. Remus was almost a whole head shorter than him. “Do you know yours and Lily’s schedule for today?”

Remus shook his head and turned to leave the room, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll check my phone.”

Then, he stopped dead. “Um, never mind.”

Sirius gave him a strange look. “What’s wrong?”

Remus sighed and crossed his arms over his stomach. “I just remembered that I dropped my phone yesterday.”

Sirius nodded, very clearly not believing Remus. “That sucks.”

Remus shrugged and got out two mugs. They heard footsteps on the stairs and watched Lily come down, looking very happy and her hair in a bun. She was wearing one of James’ shirts and some sweatpants. Remus got out a third mug.

“Morning! Coffee?”

Lily nodded, yawning. “Please.”

Sirius nodded and Remus passed the mugs to him. Lily nudged him and sat at the table. “Sit with me?”

Remus looked at Sirius, who waved his hand. “Lily likes it with a couple spoonfuls of sugar, and the same color as James’ skin. How do you like it?”

“The same, but with three spoonfuls of sugar.”

Sirius nodded and turned to the coffee. Lily sat by him and asked, “Did you sleep okay?”

Remus nodded, deciding not to tell Lily about the nightmare.

“That’s good. We’re going to get new phones today, do some office work, we’ll go home with Sirius and James. If you want to spend the night again, which I advise, we’re going to go back to your apartment with you tomorrow, on our day off.”

Remus leaned back. “Okay, what are we going to do there?”

Lily got out a clipboard and passed it to Remus. “Here.”

Remus looked down at the notes, the elaborate blueprint Lily drew. “Why didn’t you become an artist?”

Lily laughed, retying her hair. “This pays better and it’s stable.”

Remus nodded, looking at the complex notes. “Really putting my degrees to good use, aren’t I?”

Lily nodded as Sirius got everyone’s coffee to them. “I figured we may as well use your strongest qualities, which are computer science and literature, you nerd,” she turned to Sirius, “This dork took psychology, computer science, every class needed to become an English professor, and several art classes.”

Sirius barked out a laugh. “Jesus, Remus.”

“It was interesting!”

Lily snorted into her coffee, taking a sip. “I went to college with him, he was so tired all the time. And then, he made me suffer with him! Pulled several all nighters a week testing him, because he had a test every damn week!”

Sirius’ head was on the table, his shoulders were shaking as Remus shouted, “You were my only friend!”

Lily laughed and patted his hand. “I enjoyed it, don’t worry. I learned so much just testing you, I’m impressed. He breezed through college, straight As,” she directed the last part at Sirius.

Remus crossed his arms and leaned back. “It was fun to me,” he muttered.

Sirius laughed and patted Remus’ other hand. He took a peek at the blueprint he was looking over.

“Is that what we’re doing tomorrow?”

Lily nodded. “If you wanna help, ask Remus. It’s his apartment.”

Sirius turned to Remus and pouted, giving him puppy eyes. Remus smiled behind his cup and stared at him, raising an eyebrow disinterestedly.

Sirius took offense to that. “That always works!”

Lily raised her cup to hide her smile. She checked her phone and looked back up. “Remus has been subject to many, many people giving him the same eyes. Especially girls. He’s grown immune.”

Sirius smirked and leaned forward. “Will you take sex?”

Remus almost dropped his cup. Lily cackled and drank some more coffee to hide it. “Sirius!”

Sirius looked Remus up and down and leaned closer. Remus set his cup down, ignoring his cock stirring with interest, and smirked back, “I can hook you up with someone who would love to pay you for sex.”

Sirius made a face as Lily laughed. “Ugh, no, my cock belongs to one.”

Remus’ eyes went wide as Sirius winked at him. Lily buried her face in her hands and shrugged at Remus.

“Sirius, what did I tell you last night?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “No ‘frick fracking’ your assistant. I want to frick frack Remus, though.”

“Remus is the assistant!”

Sirius threw his arms up, “He’s more than your assistant!”

Lily sighed with Remus. “What I meant was, Remus stop me if you want, Remus just got out of a relationship he’s been in since he was fifteen. Think about it, he’s twenty three, now.”

Sirius’ mouth opened in an ‘O’. “Ohh. I thought you just didn’t want me to scare him away.”

Remus groaned. “No, I’d be interested if it were any other situation.”

Sirius smiled widely. “Which means wait for you, right?”

Remus’ eyes went wide. “No! You wouldn’t want— since when were you gay?”

Sirius’ face fell. “Shit, I forgot the hereros exist.”

Lily snorted, covering her sniggers with her hand. “I’m straight.”

Sirius looked horrified, turning to Lily. “What about you and Marlene?”

Lily shrugged. “Happened once and I liked it, but we both agreed I’d rather be with James, she’d rather be with Dorcas.”

Sirius mimed gagging. “One, bi is a thing. Two, please tell me you’re gay, Remus.”

Remus snorted, unable to say he wasn’t. “The gayest of the gays.”

Lily laughed. “What, would you have puked if you had to say you were straight?”

Remus gagged. Lily giggled as James walked in.

“Any coffee for me?”

Sirius shrugged. “I got these wankers some, you can make your own.”

Remus shook his head and stood up, “Sit down James, I know you had a _rough_ night.”

Lily’s jaw dropped and she scoffed. “And how would you know that?”

Remus shrugged. “Had a nightmare, peeked in, I only saw your back.”

James rolled his eyes and he let Remus step around him. “I’m only letting you because you looked at my wife’s bare back. What would your mother think?”

Remus batted his eyes and folded his hands by his cheek. “Oh my, Remus, I always knew you were straight! I knew you weren’t ill! Now I can have beautiful grandbabies! Oh, and you’re having them with Lily, so they’ll be even more beautiful,” he exclaimed in a high pitched voice.

James and Sirius laughed while Lily looked horrified. “Is she that desperate?”

Remus shrugged as he poured some coffee for James. “Ask the ten million girls she had over whenever I visited. She talked me up to them, they seemed excited, so I had to gently tell them that I was gay.”

Brian was always there to scare them off, anyway. But he couldn’t say that, not out loud.

Sirius crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, tipping it onto its two legs. “Which is great news for me, by the way.”

Remus snapped his head around. “It’s not, I told you, I’m not—”

“But you will be, and I’ll be waiting.”

Remus sighed and made James’ coffee. “I’ve had terrible experiences with your personality type. Don’t count on it,” he said, suddenly cold.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “And that is?”

Remus gave James his coffee. “Won’t take no for an answer, can’t stand that you can’t have something, so you have to get it?”

Sirius looked over at Lily, who nodded. “That’s how you’re coming off, and it was pretty bad.”

Sirius looked at Remus. “No! I didn’t mean it like that! I just really like you, and, call me mad, but I have a good feeling about you! Like a pull.”

Remus raised an eyebrow at him and sat back down. “A pull?”

Sirius nodded earnestly. “Like I have to try with you, like I’m meant to. But not in a creepy way. More like a pull.”

Remus drank some coffee. “You’ve known me for a day. I can be a gold digger, an ax murderer.”

Sirius patted Remus’ head and replied, “You’re too nice for that! Besides, you aren’t.”

Remus sighed. “I’m not.”

Sirius patted his head again and drank some more coffee. Lily stood up.

“Let’s go get our new phones.”

Remus nodded and stood up. He downed the rest of his coffee and followed Lily from the house.

Sirius turned to James. “ _What_ is making him so adverse to a relationship with me?”

James sat with him. “I was told by Lily not to talk about it. Remus doesn’t want pity.”

Sirius laid his head down. “Is it to do with the eight year relationship?”

James shrugged, he didn’t want to lie to Sirius. Sirius glared at him.

“How bad was it?”

James shrugged again. “I honestly can’t tell you, mate. Lily would kill me, not to mention Remus.”

Sirius leaned back. “Fine, I’ll guess, can you confirm and deny?”

James shrugged. “As long as it’s not explicit.”

“Was it bad?”

“Extremely.”

Sirius laid his head down, thinking. “Was he trapped?”

“Extremely.”

Sirius put a straw in his coffee and thought some more. “Did he almost die?”

“Roughly ten times, two were attempted murder.”

Sirius whistled lowly. “When you shrug, is it because the answer to the question is yes?”

Jame nodded. “I can’t say anymore. That’s all you need to know, do not tell Lily I helped you. He was in an abusive and long relationship, his family was no help because they were bad, too, thought it could fix him, he felt trapped, but he only wanted to be loved, so he was really trapped by his depression.”

Sirius nodded, staring blankly at the table. “You said things I didn’t guess.”

“I trust you not to tell Lily or Remus,” James sniffed.

Sirius nodded. “Was it the guy from yesterday? Lily’s old PA?”

James nodded. “Remus begged for her to give him the job, so Lily did, not knowing that it made it easier for Brian to cut us from Remus’ life.”

Sirius nodded. “Was it that bad?”

James drank some coffee. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s worse. I remember being back in school and trying to get him out of it, but he insisted he was fine, that Brian was only trying to help him.”

Sirius shuddered. “Was it that easy?”

James nodded. “Remus was never the most secure. Couldn’t believe I wanted to be friends with him for anything but Lily or homework. He honestly seemed lonely, nice, and just someone you’d like, too. He didn’t believe his grades half the time, every time he got one hundred percent or higher on a test, he’d stay behind and ask the teacher if they were sure.”

Sirius shook his head, “So it was easier?”

James nodded. “Much.”

Sirius leaned back and downed his coffee. “Wanna follow them?”

“So much, this guy is obsessed with Remus. I’d bet money he’s already with them.”

—

Remus stood at the store, looking at different phones. He only needed something small, something he could do personal things on, like text Lily, play aMessage games, get news, watch Netflix or YouTube, things like that. Lily wouldn’t let him pay for a work phone, so he let her pay, muttering resentfully about charity under his breath.

He picked out an APhone 6s. Lily looked at it and scoffed as he passed it to the lady to start.

“That’s pitiful.”

“It’s what I want.”

Lily rolled her eyes and got him the 12, thanking the lady at the counter graciously as she booted up the phone. “For work, though if you do anything personal on it, I won’t know.”

Remus rolled his eyes and took the phone. “Thanks,” he told her wryly, “I’ll take that into consideration.”

Lily smiled and turned around, ready to leave. “Of course you will! Come on, let’s go... oh no.”

Remus looked up, meeting a pair of dark blue eyes. He turned to Lily, who grabbed his arm and handed him a paper.

“It’s fake, but it will work for now. I’m taking a video of this.”

Remus saw her set her phone up in her pocket and started walking to the car. “If he approaches, you have a restraining order.”

“He never got notified about it!”

Lily’s eyes went wide, she paused. “I didn’t think about that.”

Remus checked his phone. “Let’s go, get to the car.”

Lily nodded, calling the driver. “Hey, can you circle back? He’s following us again, I don’t know who keeps giving him our schedule, but I want it to stop, _now_.”

Remus pocketed his phone, not looking up at him. He kept his eyes on Lily.

“Come on, that’s the driver.”

Remus nodded, walking out the door with Lily. As soon as he was out, he felt a hand on his arm.

“Hey, let’s talk.”

Remus tried to rip his arm from Brian’s grip, but it didn’t work. “No, leave, now,” he answered, not looking at him.

Brian’s eyes seemed to glow in anger, but he smoothed his face out quickly and smiled at Remus, who’d just looked up. He ran a hand through his dark hair.

Remus had forgotten how pretty his smile was.

“Come on, babe. A happy little accident, we can put that behind us. Things like that happen when you’re in our sort of relationship.”

Lily came to Remus’ side, her eyes smoldered as she ordered quietly, “Let him go. He’s at work.”

Brian scoffed and started to push Lily, but James and Sirius got out of their car, having followed them, and started running towards them.

James reached them, first. “Do not _touch_ my wife.”

Brian shrugged and let his hand drop. He smiled at Remus.

“Come home, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll stop following you everywhere, we’ll go on a nice dinner date, we’ll go on vacation, forget it all. A stress reliever for both of us.”

That sounded nice, it honestly did. Remus opened his mouth to ask, “You won’t do it again,” but was interrupted.

Remus felt another hand on his other arm. “Come on, let’s get to the car.”

Sirius started pulling Remus to the car, but Brian didn’t let his arm go. Remus didn’t look at him, he was on the edge of either jumping into Brian’s arms, or having a panic attack.

“Why are you anywhere near _him?_ ”

Remus looked up at Brian, a mistake. However, he kept his face passive as he mildly replied, “Its part of my job. Wouldn’t you know?”

Sirius kept his arm on Remus’ as he glared at Brian.

He leaned into Remus’ ear, keeping up the clueless act. “Who the hell is this?”

Remus leaned back and whispered, “Car,” knowing he wouldn’t answer the question anytime soon.

Brian watched their little exchange, his face dark. James pulled Lily to the car, ignoring her protests, and shut the door, telling the driver to drive.

He went back to Remus’ side. “Just leave, he’s said no.”

Brian smirked at James. “ _Remus_ said nothing.”

Remus’ eyes were wide and his face was white. The air felt more like paste in his chest and he was about to cry.

Brian turned to Remus and smirked. “So? You know what I know, even if you ignore it.”

“I’d like you to leave me alone,” he whispered.

Brian’s face went dark again and he stepped closer, shoving Remus to the ground. Sirius immediately knelt down next to him.

“I’m not going to stop,” Brian breathed, “You think I can’t get around every obstacle you set? Let’s face it, babe, you’ll be back in my arms within the month. And I’ll take care of you. I’ll take _good_ care of you.”

Sirius got up and punched him, before grabbing Remus’ arm and pulling him to their car. He got Remus in the back seat and closed and locked the door. He got in the front passenger seat, James in the driver’s side.

Brian was at the window. He didn’t even talk, he breathed on the window and drew a heart with his finger as James started the car. Sirius turned to Remus just as Brian wiped the blood from his nose and mouthed _You’ll pay for that_ at him.

Remus stared at the heart on the window as they drove away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I’m making the ex as obsessed with Remus as the rest of us are..


	3. Chapter 3

Remus called Lily, he knew her number by heart, from three years of doubtfully tracing her number with his finger on a small piece of paper, praying she hadn’t changed it.

She never did, thank god. The two years after secondary school when they were in college together were nice. When he visited Lily, watched James’ career build with Sirius’, though from afar, got _him_ that job.

He’d earned a place of pride that night. Remus remembered clinging to that night for the next few years as he slowly withdrew from Lily and James, per his fiance’s orders.

Remus typed in the number and Lily picked up the phone within the first ring.

_”Give James the goddamn phone.”_

“Um, can I speak first?”

Sirius turned around and saw the phone at Remus’ ear. He nodded to James, who saw Remus in the rearview mirror.

_“Are you sure you want to speak to me in the car?”_

Remus looked over at Sirius and sighed. “No. I guess not. Here’s James.”

_“We will talk for hours after this. We have a slow day today, so we can talk. It will be mostly waiting for emails and contracts.”_

Remus nodded and realized Lily couldn’t see him. “Yeah, okay.”

James was making frantic ‘no’ motions with his hand, even as he was driving, at Remus.

Remus smiled a bit and passed James the phone, forcing him to take it. James said brightly into the phone, “Hi, sweetcheeks!”

Remus could hear Lily’s voice shouting on the phone and hid his smile. Sirius climbed between the seats, James hit the back of his knee so he fell into the back seat, onto Remus.

“Oof!”

Remus squirmed out from under him and sat against the window, to opposite side that he started on.

Sirius took his jacket off and wrapped it around Remus’ shoulders. “You seem cold. You didn’t take a jacket, and it’s the middle of January.”

Remus sighed, he knew he’d forgotten something. “Thanks,” he muttered.

Sirius patted his head. “Do you want to... talk ab—”

“No, thanks.”

Sirius sighed and nodded. He turned to look out the window and his eyes went wide as he saw the heart. “Are you fucking kidding me!?”

Remus jumped back, before catching his new phone, which he almost dropped. He looked between Sirius, who was still looking at the window in disgust, and the phone, before turning away. 

He turned it on and started downloading things on it, just for something to do.

He was hunched over it, guarding it from Sirius’ gaze, it seemed.

Sirius sighed and held the jacket above Remus’ shoulders. Remus was expecting it. He didn’t give Sirius something he wanted, so he took back his offering of peace.

Sirius shook the jacket a bit, making Remus look up. “Are you going to wear it properly?”

Remus looked startled, Sirius tilted his head to the side. He watched him tuck his phone under his leg and poke his arms through the sleeves.

“Thanks,” Remus muttered.

Was he supposed to feel guilty, now? Sirius just did something for him and he had nothing to offer back. What did he do now?

Sirius’ eyes were still on Remus. James’ voice was defensive in the background, letting them both know that Lily was not letting him off for forcing her into the car and having the driver drive away.

Remus looked confused. His brow was furrowed, his lips were slightly parted, he was staring into his lap. Sirius noticed Remus’ hand was petting the jacket sleeve, though it wasn’t soft on the outside.

Remus looked back at Sirius. He slowly took his phone back out and turned it back on. Sirius looked at it and almost died.

“Do you not have a case?”

Remus jumped. “No.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and told James to stop at the nearest Gryllidae store. Remus gave him a strange look, but Sirius simply patted his head as James pulled up to the nearest turning point and gave Lily the address.

He turned into the parking lot and pulled into a spot. It seemed Sirius didn’t even notice where they were, because he looked surprised.

Sirius got out of the car and walked around the back of it to open the door for Remus.

“Come on.”

Remus got out, Sirius gave him sunglasses and a mask. “For the stalkers.”

Remus nodded and muttered, “Thanks.”

Sirius put a hand on his shoulder and guided Remus to the store. It felt more comforting than controlling, though. Nothing like _him_.

James opened the door for them, his sunglasses and a hat on. He sat in a chair by the door as Sirius walked Remus to the phone cases.

“You got one for work, one for personal use?”

Remus nodded. Sirius looked at his personal phone and scoffed at it, much like Lily.

“I know Lily didn’t buy that for you.”

Remus shrugged and looked away. Sirius waved his hand at the cases and told him, “Pick out what you want. I’m paying,” Remus opened his mouth, “I’m rich, I like you, let me do this. No strings attached, I promise, I want to do something for you just to do it, okay?”

Remus shook his head, “I can’t—”

“I’ll pick it out myself. I’ll get the most expensive cases and let them sit in my dresser, useless, because they won’t fit my phone, and unused.”

Remus sighed. Sirius would be wasting money anyway, and he hated that.

“Fine.”

Remus looked at the phone cases and sighed again. He’d just take the cheapest ones. Sirius watched him look at the ones at the bottom of the shelf and rolled his eyes.

“Aim a little higher, I’ll buy you a damn house if you don’t pick out something worthwhile, then I’ll fill the house with phones that have cases on them.”

Remus glared over his shoulder at Sirius. Sirius smiled lightheartedly at him. “I’ll include a car.”

Remus rolled his eyes and straightened up. Sirius watched him pick out a nice and durable case, a gray one, and smiled. “That’s the ticket.”

He saw Remus hide a smile, he could swear.

Sirius dragged him to the next aisle and found the same one, just smaller. “Does this work, too?”

Remus nodded. Sirius walked to the counter and smiled at the woman beside it. She smiled at him and said as she rang him up, “My brother’s a huge fan! I, personally, like your modelling a little better. I’ve never been a huge fan of sports.”

Sirius smiled and shrugged. “Thank you! I’ve actually been thinking about branching more into modelling. It means a lot that people like my other jobs, too!”

The woman smiled and batted her eyes at him, leaning forward on the counter. “I'm sure you'll do great wherever you try!”

The woman behind the counter handed the bag to Sirius.

Sirius smiled and handed the bag to Remus. He turned with Remus and waved over his shoulder at the woman. "Thank you! You have a good day!"

The woman waved back. "You, too!"

They walked from the shop, Remus carrying the bag. James was still bickering into the phone with Lily. Sirius took Remus' phone from his pocket and took the bag back. Remus turned to him as he started to open one of the phone cases.

"I can do that myself," Remus told him conversationally.

Sirius shrugged and put the phone in the case. "You may drop it before we get to the car."

Remus took the phone back when Sirius was done. "From my pocket?"

Sirius nodded and opened the car door for Remus. Remus got in and scooted over for him. "Your pockets don't look deep enough.”

James called from the front seat, "Just admit you wanted to do something for him, Pads,” he said as he gave Remus his phone back.

Sirius took it and put it in the case, noticing that Remus seemed to just let him.

Sirius laughed and smacked James' head from the back seat. "Fine, I wanted to do something for Remus!"

James batted at Sirius' hand and gave Remus a truly evil smirk in the rear view mirror. "Don't you mean... Moony?"

Remus groaned and buried his face in his hands. He had forgotten about that nickname. Sirius grinned and nudged Remus with his elbow. "Where'd that one come from, eh, _Moony?_ "

Remus rolled his eyes and hit James' shoulder from the back seat. "Where'd _Pads_ come from?"

"Short for Padfoot, stop avoiding the question, I want to know."

Remus rolled his eyes and muttered, "That makes it better."

Sirius planted his elbows on his knees and stared at Remus. "James' is Prongs because I convinced him to stick a fork up his arse once. I don't mean the handle end, either."

Remus covered his mouth with his hand to stifle his laugh. "I'm sorry, _what,_ " he asked between giggles. 

James glared at Sirius through the mirror, "If you don't shut up, right now, I will swerve this car into a lamp post."

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to Remus. "The best part about the whole thing is, his mum is Indian, his father is half and half. So, they like to send us Indian cuisine, which is great, by the way, you need to try it sometime-"

"Padfoot!"

"-And so they'd sent this spicy curry, very good, by the way, and he used the wrong fork," Sirius paused as Remus closed his eyes, his hand still over his mouth, stifling his giggles, "You should have seen his face as he realized. He thought it hurt so bad because of which end of the fork it was, which may have been the reason at first, but... let's just say he spent the rest of the night in true desperate white girl who just ate a jalapeno fashion. Pouring milk up his arse."

Remus leaned into the the window, his hand on his forehead, completely roaring with laughter. "What the actual _fuck_ , James?"

"Ah, ah, ah! _Prongs!_ "

Remus laughed and leaned his head on his knees. "Sirius used to be in ballet!"

Remus was gasping with laughter, now, so James desperately added, "I have pictures of him in tutus, I'll show you right now!"

Remus' head perked up at Sirius looked horrified. James practically threw his phone at Remus as Sirius tried to catch it. Remus caught it, Photos was open. Sirius made a grab for the phone as Remus went to favorites, knowing where James would keep something like that. 

He looked up at Sirius, then back to the photo of a teenage him in the blue tutu. Sirius watched him start to snort and then full out laugh. Sirius was able to take the phone as he kept laughing. Remus tried to cover his mouth as Sirius scrolled through the photos, trying to find something on Remus. "This you?"

Remus looked at the photo and stopped laughing. It wasn't even embarrassing, well it kind of was, but it was more sultry. It was Remus doing yoga. From behind.

"You kept those pictures!?"

James shrugged, safe in the front seat. Remus took the phone back, noticing Sirius shared it with himself. "Delete that from your phone, _now_."

Sirius shook his head and held his own phone out of reach. "No can do, you've seen the tutu pictures, it's only fair."

Remus tried to grab Sirius' phone, only succeeding in getting on top of Sirius. "You cannot keep my softcore porn!"

James called from the front, “He has hardcore porn!”

“ _James!_ ”

“It’s where Moony came from!”

“I’m going to fucking kill you!”

Remus tried to jump off of Sirius, into the front seat, but Sirius grabbed his waist.

“Kill him when he’s not operating a vehicle!”

Remus glared down at Sirius and stuck his tongue out at him.

Sirius stuck his tongue back out at Remus and pocketed his phone. Remus tried to get to it, Sirius flipped them over so _he_ was holding _Remus_ down.

“I’ll give you the website later,” James called 

Remus shot his seat a death glare. “You won’t if you want to keep your life and wife!”

Remus squirmed out from beneath Sirius and sat by the door. 

Sirius smirked and scooted closer, laying his head on Remus’ shoulder. “You’re not mad at me,” he asked, pouting.

Remus looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Sirius kissed his cheek and got on the other side of the car before Remus could hit him.

“James, are you angry at me?”

James snorted and shook his head. “Yes, you broke the number one rule.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. “Which was?”

“How can you not remember? Don’t I mean anything to you!? Next you’re going to say you don’t remember our anniversary!”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “We met September first, became real friends September eighth.”

James paused for a while, before he smiled, calm. “Bros before hoes. I mean, obviously Remus isn’t my hoe, but he’s your hoe.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “What the fuck is a hoe?”

Sirius snorted and patted Remus’ head. “American slang, we took a vacation in California once, so we picked up some of the slang.”

Remus glared at Sirius. “For what?”

Sirius lowered his hand and shifted uncomfortably. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, waving his hand airily.

Remus got his phone back out and turned it on. Sirius watched him look up _hoes urban dictionary_.

Sirius rolled his eyes and watched Remus click on the results and scroll.

“ _Someone who lets any old colored pencil into their sharpener?_ ”

“James called you a hoe, not me!”

“Oi, way to throw your mate under the bus!”

Remus hit Sirius’ arm. “He called me _your_ hoe! Why!?”

Sirius rubbed his arm and smiled nervously. “That part doesn’t matter,” he replied shiftily.

“All this website is describing is slags. What the fuck?”

“We’re here!”

James pulled over hurriedly and Remus looked out the car window, seeing Lily standing on the sidewalk, her arms crossed. They both groaned. Remus couldn’t blame them, Lily was worse than Satan himself when she was set off. Five feet five inches of satanic fury.

Remus got out, Sirius and James following, looking sheepish. It was funny, watching two men over six feet tall, standing nervously in front of someone shorter than them, Sirius by over a foot, James by a few inches less than a foot.

While Remus was watching this, he realized he was almost a foot shorter than Sirius.

Damn athletes.

Lily turned around and walked into the building, the three men following her in. As they got on the lift, Lily said stiffly, “Remus, get us some coffee and lunch, because you guys were gone so long, when we get into the office. I’m in the mood for sushi, maybe ramen. You?”

Remus nodded. “That sounds good.”

Lily smiled and patted his arm. “I’ll get you in a car, there’s a nice place down the street. You’ll have one of my other client’s body guards.”

Remus nodded and crossed his arms, taking off the sunglasses. He took off the mask and put it in his pocket. The lift stopped and they all stepped off. They got into the office and Lily passed him her wallet.

Remus took the wallet and put it in his pocket. As he left, Lily turned to James and Sirius.

“It is all over the news that you two jumped a defenceless man, apparently trying to steal his boyfriend.”

Sirius scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Well, that’s obviously not true! He attacked Remus!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Lily barked, “He was holding Remus’ arm, so you guys should have distracted him enough to get Remus from his grip, just like I had to do for five years until I wasn’t allowed around Remus anymore! He has proof of attack, you idiot! How do you think that makes _Remus_ look?”

Sirius fell silent. When he spoke again, he was quiet. “He pissed me off. You should have heard what he said to Remus. _You know what I know, I’ll take good care of you?_ How dare he, we all know what he was implying! Why the hell was he saying that!?”

Lily glared at Sirius, though she seemed to be fighting back the better part of her emotions. “Because he wants Remus back. He’s likely not going to stop until he’s arrested.”

“What the fuck do you mean, _wants Remus back?_ ”

Lily glared at Sirius and tilted her head to the side, her jaw jutted. “I know James told you. You two aren’t exactly quiet and Remus and I forgot our bags.”

Sirius looked horrified, so Lily backtracked and consoled him, “Remus doesn’t know, and you won’t tell him at _all_. I can tell him you know about how abusive it was and how long it was, all of that, but if you tell him, he won’t like it. If I tell him, I can spin it off as the fact that you wouldn’t stop asking about Brian showing up randomly.”

Sirius nodded, having the mind to look ashamed. “I’m sorry, I practically forced James to tell me.”

Lily sat on her desk. “It’s fine, you were worried and it makes sense. You knew to ask the right questions, and, let’s face it, you can help him the most of us. I’m hoping that when he knows, you two can help each other.”

Sirius nodded, hating how Lily worded it, but knowing she meant well. He sat down and put his chin in his hands. Lily turned to James.

“How _dare_ you send me away?”

James shrugged and moved back as Lily started batting at his arm. “I didn’t want him hurting you! He was touching your arm!”

Lily hit his chest. “I. Don’t. Care! You don’t just shove me to the side, I’m Remus’ boss! I was recording it on my phone for another goddamn court date!”

James put his hands up, looking pertinent. Lily ended with one more hit before sitting behind her desk. “Don’t follow us. We can’t get anything done if we’re constantly being followed, we already have that piece of shit stalking Remus, we don’t need you two stalking us, too! You already work with us!”

Sirius nodded, James did, too, looking sombre. Lily checked her phone and put her hand under her chin anxiously. Ten more minutes passed.

Remus came back in, holding four bags. James and Sirius cheered as Remus set the bags on Lily’s desk.

“I didn’t know what you usually get, Sirius, so I got you what I get. I don’t know if it’s what you like or not, if it’s not, I can go back.”

Lily rolled her eyes, passing Sirius the bag. “Sirius will eat anything that’s edible, don’t worry.”

Remus smiled as Lily passed him his bag and passed James’ to James.

They all dug in, forgetting about everything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, I know! I’m having a lot of fun writing this story, tho, so I think the next ones are longer! I didn’t notice this one is kind of short, but I loved writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> Do you like my new brands? I’m having fun making them up lol.


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